This invention relates to an electrically heated tartlet press, and is more particularly concerned with a press for forming pastry shells upon application of heat and pressure to a body of pastry dough seated on the bottom of a tapered well in a tart pan.
A tartlet press of the character referred to comprises an enlarged tapered cylindrical head, adapted to seat in a tapered well of a tart pan, the head being fabricated from rigid heat conductive material and having a flat bottom wall of minor diameter, a tapered side wall, and a tapered flange on the major diameter of the head adaptable to bear against the well entry and center the head when the head is inserted into the pan well, and upstanding centrally of the head is an insulated shaft. Within the shaft is a core of heat transmitting material in heat conducting relation with the head and an electric heating element in heat conducting relation with the core, and at the other end of the shaft remote from the head is an electrically and heat insulated handle and means for transmitting electric current to and for energizing the electric heating element.
Conventionally, bakers by hand manipulate the pastry dough against the bottom and side wall of the tart pan to form a pastry shell, Care must be taken to evenly and adequately spread the dough to cover the entire shell cavity, and that effort is time consuming because of the manual movement required and the pastry nature of the dough material. Shell forming molds have been tried for working the dough, but often require coating with a dough releasant, extensive set-up time, lack centering means, or have critical tolerances and are usually very expensive and custom made. As compared to conventional manual pastry shell forming procedures, it has been found that two bakers are required to make 50 doz. tartlet shells in 2 hours, but with the novel tartlet press disclosed in this application, a single baker can form 50 doz. tartlet shells in 1 hour.